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Rose Doyle

Angry, MGH heart patient challenged process
"Not a week after Rose Doyle's heart problems landed her in Massachusetts General Hospital in November 2006, the hospital's attorney went to Suffolk Probate Court with a petition asking the court to declare Doyle mentally ill and to appoint a guardian to make all her decisions for her..."

Dawn Cromwell (Photo not available)

ELDER RIGHTS EMERGENCY IN MASSACHUSETTS

Courts Strip Elders of their Independence "Dawn Cromwell dares not leave her building. If she tried, a device girding her ankle would sound an alarm. For over a year, she has had to use store-bought reading glasses because her pleas for a prescription pair have gone for naught. She is given medications, but, she says, no one will tell her what they are."

Old, Sick, and Unbefriended
"On Sunday, the Globe reported on the grim world of ‘unbefriended elders’ - seniors who, after seeking medical treatment, are deemed too addled to make their own decisions but have no relatives to advocate for them. They are dished out to guardians without benefit of sound medical documentation or legal representation. Judges push through about 300 such cases a year on the advice of doctors in hospitals or nursing homes..."

FUTILE CARE LAW EMERGENCY IN TEXASCurrently, there is an emergency regarding the reauthorization of Futile Care Law in Texas. Those involved are attempting to block legislation that requires hospitals to continue treating sick or dying patients.

Family Stories "Testimony by Lanore Dixon, sister and guardian of Andrea Clark, who was a victim of the Texas Advance Directives Act of 1999, at a Houston facility. "To understand how badly the Texas Futile Care Statute failed my sister Andrea Clark and our family, allow me to share a little about Andrea..."

SAFE says, VOTE!

As the primaries preceding the naming of presidential nominees continues, SAFE wants to remind the disabled community and all those concerned with disability issues to vote.

Call your favorite candidate(s) and ask their assistants what their positions are on euthanasia, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, funding for special education, building accessibility, and other issues.

Only when we make our voices heard will we be able to protect and advance the lives of people with disabilities.

"After his release from prison on June 1 for ‘good behavior,’ Jack Kevorkian, a.k.a. Dr. Death, resumed his promotion of assisted suicide as a humane conclusion for the terminally ill. He told Larry King that he felt it was important to speak to young people in high school and college about these issues... read more

In violation of his and his family's wishes, a hospital in Winnipeg, Canada, is attempting to force an elderly man and his family to discontinue medical care in the form of a feeding tube and a ventilator.

Health 'voucher' for NHS patients. March 30, 2008: Tens of thousands of NHS patients will be given money to pay for their own health care in a controversial 'voucher' scheme under new government plans..."

No diseases for old men
Peter Singer. "Pneumonia used to be called 'the old man's friend' because it often brought a fairly swift and painless end to a life that was already of poor quality, and would otherwise have continued to decline. Now a study of severely demented patients in Boston area nursing homes shows that the 'friend' is often being fought with antibiotics..."

Online pollTo vote now click here.The Canadian Centre for Policy Studies currently has a poll on its front page asking who should decide cases of life and death.

In Canada, the Schiavo case with an outrageous twistRead the full story
"An elderly Orthodox Jew is on life support. His children have adamantly opposed his removal from the ventilator and feeding tube, on the grounds that Jewish law expressly forbids any action designed to shorten life..."

How to help Sam GolubchukSign a petition!
"We the undersigned demand that the Winnipeg Grace Hospital immediately cease its taxpayer-funded court case against the family of Sam Golubchuk and continue providing treatment for Sam according to their wishes and instructions."

Please see the links at the right to read about Futile Care laws, issues pertaining to the disabled community, and our group's efforts to educate the public about how such situations impact individual rights.

If you have any questions, stories you'd like to share, or general concerns, feel free to
contact us.

This Website is a work in progress, thus, some of our web pages are not complete. This is not meant to reflect a lack of concern or information about the issues involved. This is a result from the small size of our current web team.